We are traveling to Nova Scotia the first week in August. On the way up we are coming from Bar Harbor and will cross at the Calais border on Wednesday afternoon. We are coming back on Sunday afternoon. We want to make the best time possible and will just be taking 95 South once we are back in Maine. Will Calais border crossing be backed up on a Sunday afternoon/evening? Is Houlton a quicker way to go? Both are about equal distance from where we are leaving. We are a family of four driving a passenger car and we all have valid passports if any of that matters. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Wow, that's surely about the worst time to hit either spot. A ploy I use elsewhere is to <I>delay my trip back across the border</I> until LATE at night (on Sundays, etc.) figuring I'd do just fine if utilizing the couple of hours for further sightseeing vs. sitting in a border line.

MAYBE your equation is solved best by considering the path which affords fastest travel <I>aside from</I> the border crossings themselves.

MSN Maps suggests just 9 more minutes and 50 more miles using Houlton, BUT, if both are bogged down by traffic, perhaps the smaller roads are worse than is the Interstate equivalent.

It is a guessing game, but I sense some of the locals and semi-locals may have a preference they'll share with you.

You can check wait times here. It looks like there is a phone app for it as well.

http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/

Calais is a small border crossing - a lot of locals travel back and forth for work and shopping. I have come through there at various times, and maybe 1/2 hour wait entering Canada at the most during the day. Having said that, I have seen the traffic backed up for literally miles getting into the States at that crossing.

We entered and exited the States last week through Houlton on a week day. Entry into the states took about 10 minutes with only one gate opened. Similar coming back into Canada.